SURRY: DURSLEY HOUSE
~963 words
It was three days ago that Dudley and his cousin were attacked by something Harry called a Dementor. The creature's approach had caused a tidal wave of horrible memories to resurface and crash against his conscience, while a deep seeded dread pulled on what he could only assume to have been his soul. And in those three days, locking himself away in his room, Dudley felt as if a carefully constructed house of cards was falling around him. His mind felt startlingly clear for practically the first time in his 16 years on earth, but with the clarity came understanding, shame, and guilt.
Dudley wanted to scream from the rooftops that he was raised normally in a normal family, but the contrary evidence sat in the locked room down the hall and behind the cupboard under the stairs. Something Dudley found out very young is that it is not normal to have a child that lives in a closet and only comes out to do chores. On the playground when they were 9, his friend Micheal was telling them that the day before his littlest sister asked their parents to make the small walk-in closet her bedroom to avoid sharing with her sister. Prompting him and his other siblings to get pulled into a lecture on the criteria for proper living arrangements and the dangers of sleeping in small spaces. Be it breathing the stale air or having stunted growth development. Back in his room, bile rose up Dudleys' chest with the reality that they had, scratch that, have a child slave in the house and he not only thought it was alright but absolutely hilarious.
Harry, his overly kind cousin, a kid he did his best to torment, still helped him knowing the risk of doing so. He could see the fear in Harry's eyes when he received the letter expelling him from Hogwarts. Overlaying with the memories of all the times he was made to witness Harry's punishments, was the sound of his cousin screaming for him to run. But he couldn’t run, he had been stuck against that tunnel wall as all the happiness was sucked away leaving only despair and grief. The last things he remembered were a vision of the beating Harry received after Dudley got stuck in the snake enclosure at the zoo and then current Harry creating a Stag made of bright white light that rushed at him giving off pure happiness before everything went black.
The last three days he’s been in his room have been spent watching a montage of memories he had collected throughout his life. An overflow from the build-up of years upon years of memories from stumbling across Harry’s punishment, sometimes being forced to watch them, and all the occasions he played harry hunting with his gang of friends. The reflection on his action made Dudley realize that his parents have done him absolutely no good either. In a disgusting effort of self-protection (because if they can do that to Harry, what’s stopping them from harming Dudley as well) they had turned him into a monster in the making. He tormented the kids in the neighborhood as well as at school. Dudley has no idea how many of his friends even truly like him or follow him out of fear and self-preservation, and he’s heard a couple of girls call him a sexist pig.
“Fuck, I need to see a therapist,” he says while cradling his face in his hands. Dudley wonders briefly if there are magical therapists, probably right?
His thoughts drift off to his cousin again, he had gotten picked up by the red-headed family that seems to have all but adopted him. However, something about the family wasn't sitting well with Dudley. The biggest red flag he can think of is when three of the children had ripped bars clean off Harry's window to rescue him. One of the twins picked the lock on the cupboard to get Harry's luggage, so there is little chance they didn't see at least one suspicious thing. They had met the family's father a couple of times by now and other than threatening Vernon at the beginning of the summer, it's never seemingly been acknowledged. And Dudley can't help but wonder what they even hoped to gain from the threat to his dad. All it led to was Harry being locked up without food or water for a full week.
A Sick thought churned in his gut that maybe that is actually the reason. He remembers when that giant of a man barged in, Hagid -- or something, told Harry that he was famous and his parents were heroes. Why would they willingly allow their ‘savior’ to go back to an obviously abusive house? Hell, you can visually see the kid is still malnourished and flinches at anything that moves too fast in his direction. He can think of no other reason they would let this go on unless they want him beaten down, grateful to see them cause they are his saviors from the hell and misery his so-called family inflicts. A pawn for something bigger.
Even when Harry returns home each summer, he seems just a little more traumatized than before. This summer was no exception since he had been forced to watch his friend be killed in front of him, only days before the school year ended. Making up his mind, Dudley knows he can't let this continue. And while hopefully, he can gain the support of Harry's friends, he knows deep down he may be the only person who can save his cousin. So, not knowing if his cousin had anybody in the magical world he could rely on, Dudley grabbed his new camera and started taking photos of the house.